Straw bale solutions : creative tips for growing vegetables in bales at home, in community gardens, and around the world
(Book)

Includes index.

Whether you live in Brooklyn, Dublin, Abu Dhabi, or the deserts of Arizona, there are some places where straw bales can be hard to find. No worries. If you have access to organic matter-practically any organic matter-you can form and compress it into planting bales. In my visits to Cambodia and the Philippines, I have seen the locals adopt ingenious techniques for making bales from rice straw. In Costa Rica, they use spent sugar-cane stalks. Basically, if it will rot, you can plant in it. The key is compression. The tightness of the bale causes heat buildup and accelerates the decomposition. Or you can add compost. The great thing about making your own bales with some compost is that the bales are already partly conditioned. If you press the mixture of compost and fresh organic material into a bale form that holds its shape and supports the plants, the results will be extraordinary. In many instances, the results are even superior to starting with fresh straw bales and fertilizer.